


Yokare to omotte

by Xephonia



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Male Friendship, Post-Canon, There's no Astral in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-14 19:19:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5755123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xephonia/pseuds/Xephonia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since Yuuma has saved Astral World for the second time, he's been suffering - but maybe someone who's usually known for making others suffer can help him out. [Vector/Yuuma friendship, post-canon]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic happened when my Vector obsession overtook me. I don't know where this will go, but it's definitely not Foilshipping. Any form of feedback is always desired, by the way.  
> P.S.: I really just took this from my FF.net account and decided to upload it here as well.

The roof was a wonderful place for Yuuma to be at. Especially when it was night and he needed time for himself.

Time to think.

Time he didn't need to spend putting on a smile that wasn't his.

When did he start to fake smiles again? He'd promised Astral many things. Among them was exactly not exhibiting this kind of behavior.

Or so he'd promised.

Yuuma had been out of it for quite a while now.

Of course, nobody had noticed. Who would? His happy self was nothing that one couldn't trust, right?

He'd reassured his friends many times over that he was okay with Astral being gone. That he'd learnt to be alright on his own. That for him, his friends were enough.

Of course, that was a lie - however, even Kotori believed him by now. And Yuuma sometimes thought he could believe himself, too.

Or so he'd thought.

They'd saved Astral World for the second time by now. Yuuma had desperately tried to drag out the duels.

Duels that were connected to his and Astral's lives.

Duels he couldn't have afforded to lose.

He risked the win in exchange for being able to spend more time with Astral.

However, Astral had noticed right away and he'd scolded him. They'd finished dealing with the threat that had come to Astral World.

And Yuuma'd returned home.

Of course, he had protested. He'd asked to stay a bit longer. He'd even begged Kaito.

However, the portal between worlds wasn't easy to create and didn't hold an infinite amount of uses. Apparently, Astral didn't have access to Number 66: Master Key Beetle anymore, either. To be exact, Astral had no access to the airship within the Emperor's Key, anymore.

So Yuuma had to return home once more, to his normal life. It didn't quite feel like home, anymore.

Astral had refused when Yuuma had asked him to come along. He'd said that Yuuma needed to be able to live without him, too. That the people in Astral World needed him more than Yuuma did.

And Yuuma couldn't deny his rage at that fact.

Was it wrong to feel that way?

Yuuma did not know.

Tomorrow would be another day. He'd be dueling, making jokes and laughing.

But it would never be the same without Astral.

There would soon be a way for the door to parallel worlds to be stable, Kaito had said.

At first, Yuuma had been filled with hope when he'd heard that.

Said hope decreased with every day, though.

'Soon' seemed to have no clear definition. They hadn't found a way to rebuild the portal for a third time, yet.

"Astral..." Yuuma muttered his partner's name as he stared at the Emperor's Key, all while trying to ignore how cold it was at this time of the day... night.

By now it had been 65 days since Yuuma had last seen Astral. That was more than two months.

The others had it easier coping with Astral's disappearance.

For example, Kotori.

Kotori had confessed her love to Yuuma. Some days ago, he'd finally given her an answer. He'd said he couldn't return her feelings.

Sure, they were childhood friends and he fully trusted Kotori, but that didn't mean he romantically loved her, although everyone seemed to assume exactly that.

They were so wrong.

Yuuma had no interest in romantic love whatsoever.

Since then, he hadn't spoken a single word with Kotori. She didn't let anyone notice her suffering, either.

However, Yuuma could tell that Kotori blamed Astral for it, even if she didn't want to admit it. Deep down, there were always feelings like these.

Just like the feelings Astral used to have thanks to Vector's manipulations.

Speaking of Vector, he'd probably be able to cheer Yuuma up right now.

In the end, they'd made him attend school with them. And he still had great fun whenever he was showing Yuuma new potentially dangerous shortcuts. Not that Yuuma didn't have fun with it - it was one of the few times where his thoughts didn't circle around Astral. That's why he had went along with anything that Vector had tried in these last 65 days.

Those moments always reminded Yuuma of the old times. Before Vector had betrayed him.

He'd forgiven Vector by now. And Vector... didn't seem all too interested to bring any sensitive topics up.

He was one of the only people who seemed to understand that telling Yuuma that he'll see Astral again will not help.

Suddenly, a touch on his back. "Yuuma-kun, spacing out again?"

Yuuma immediately got onto his feet and jumped backwards, forgetting that he was on the rooftop and thus falling... only to be caught by Vector, who pulled him back to his feet.

"Vector! It's in the middle of the night, what are you doing here?!" Yuuma exclaimed in surprise.

Vector gave him a smirk that held a lot of meaning. A meaning which Yuuma could not grasp. "I thought it's for the best."

He sat down, still having that smirk.

Yuuma simply smiled in return as he sat down again as well, deciding to not bother with the details since the person who was the best at distracting him had appeared out of nowhere - that was one of the most pleasant moments within the last weeks. "It might be. So, what made you come here?"

"Well, to be honest," Vector had that grin that Yuuma knew all too well. The grin Vector always had when he'd managed to piss someone off the way he wanted. "Nasch and Mizael kicked me out of the house."

Yuuma tried to not laugh at that. Vector had been living with the other former Barian Emperors for quite a while now and they had gotten along quite well. Quite well... aside from Shark having things (things that have a varying degree of actual danger) fall on him on a regular basis, and Mizael needing to take care of his hair products a lot - Vector tended to swap Mizael's shampoo bottle with hair dye bottles since he couldn't do more dangerous things. That in return resulted in scoldings from Rio.

A chuckle escaped Yuuma's lips. "What did you do this time?" Any topic that wasn't Astral was like heaven to him.

"Well, I might have went a little overboard this time," Vector said, but immediately started laughing afterwards, making his statement sound like a joke. "Actually, I didn't. I just dropped some jellyfish on Nasch. That was enough for him to hate my guts. Well, he probably hated them from the start." A slightly insane-sounding giggle slipped through while he was talking. "Aaaand yeah, I think he really hates jellyfish. I have no idea why that is~"

Of course. It wasn't like Vector was indirectly responsible for Shark's dislike for jellyfish or anything. Yuuma remembered Shark's encounter with Kurage very vividly.

While Yuuma couldn't share the fun that Vector had in making Shark's life harder, he did have fun seeing Vector have fun.

Fun that didn't involve seriously hurting people.

"And why is Mizael angry? What hair dye was it this time?" Yuuma enjoyed the pranks that Vector pulled on Mizael a little more than the ones he pulled on Shark. Mainly because Mizael had not been killed by Vector at any point in the past.

"Purple. I thought it's for the best if he bonds with Nasch a little~" Vector didn't bother hiding the fun he was having with it. "And well, in the end they had enough of me and kicked me out. For who knows how long. So I figured I'd visit you."

"How did you even know that I am awake?" Yuuma asked, stretching and yawning. He didn't want to sleep, no matter how tired he was. Better awake and about to collapse from the lack of sleep rather than having more of those nightmares. Nightmares that were all about losing Astral.

"Do you recall that one time where we had that talk about the whole Barian Police matter at night? After I gave you that Limited Barian's Force?" Vector asked, not even capable of laughing about it anymore. He would have in the past. But the moment he'd died, things had changed. Thanks to the stubborn idiot he was sitting next to.

Whatever had remained of Yuuma's smile now vanished at once. "Yes. I told you back there that I'm awake at night pretty often lately, right?"

Vector nodded. "That's why I knew you'd be awake."

"So, what did you come here for? Want to talk about the new route for tomorrow?" Yuuma now asked, eager to change the topic to things that were not related to anything that could remind him of Astral.

"Actually, I wanted to ask if it's fine for me to crash at your place," Vector finally said what he'd actually come there for.

"You can stay as long as you want!" Yuuma simply exclaimed with a smile, unable to conceal the happiness that filled his eyes. "I'm sure grandma and Akari-nee-chan won't mind making more duel meals anyway. There was that one time where III crashed here for a while. Or that time where we kept Haruto here. Those were great. Astral really helped Haruto back there, right, Astral?"

Silence.

Vector knew that expressing any form of worry would not be a good idea and cause Yuuma to retreat even more.

Nervous laughing. Rubbing his neck. Yuuma's trademark gestures for this situation. He and Vector were both very aware that there was no way to conceal his suffering over not being with Astral.

In response to that, Vector simply stood up and pulled Yuuma to his feet. "Let's go to sleep then."

And today was the first day in his new life where Vector'd lied to Tsukumo Yuuma.

How did that dense idiot Yuuma even manage to believe that Nasch and Mizael would be able to kick him, Vector, out, anyway? The part with them being angry hadn't been a lie though.

On another note, Vector was lying to help Yuuma, so it might actually not be that bad.

Vector laughed a little while he looked around in Yuuma's room.

"What's so funny?" Yuuma asked, following him slowly while subconsciously gazing at the key again.

"Nothing, really," Vector said, grinning. "So, uh, where do I sleep?"

Yuuma pointed downwards. "In the bed down there."

"So, why aren't you sleeping there? It's not like that thing you're sleeping in right now is comfortable," Vector could not really comprehend Yuuma's behaviour. But then again, who could?

"This place here is filled with memories of my parents... and lately, of Astral, too," Yuuma said, giving a weak smile.

"Then I suggest we both sleep down in your actual bedroom." Vector did not seem to allow any refuses when he pulled Yuuma after him.

"Wait, Vector! Why?" Yuuma asked, getting out some blankets so they'd both have a place to sleep. He didn't have the strength to protest, currently.

"Because I think it's for the best."


	2. Chapter 2

"We're late, we're late, we're late!" Yuuma shouted hastily as he quickly got into his uniform while tossing one of his spare uniforms towards Vector.

The ginger boy caught it with ease and quickly changed clothes as well. Yuuma and Vector had almost the same size to the point where they could exchange their clothes freely, which was kind of convenient for the latter: He didn't need to go get his clothes from the house where the other former Barian Emperors were residing.

"We're going now, Akari-nee-chan!" Yuuma shouted as he ran down the stairs.

"We?" Akari asked while tossing some duel rice balls over to Yuuma. The boy's eyes lightened up when he saw the food.

"Uhm..." Yuuma realized he'd forgotten something very important: explaining as to how and why Vector was at his place right now.

At that moment, Vector lazily walked down the stairs, quickly changing his attitude when he saw Akari. "I don't know if you remember, but I'm Shingetsu. Shingetsu Rei, Yuuma's classmate!" He put on his best Shingetsu smile, not wanting Akari to get behind the whole matter of his involvement in Yuuma's travels to other dimensions. It'd only make it harder for him to achieve his goal if Yuuma's family knew the truth about him.

Akari indeed recognized the boy. "Oh, you're the one I sometimes see waiting for Yuuma, aren't you?"

Sometimes, when Akari had headed out at the same time as Yuuma, she'd seen Vector. Of course she didn't know that he was waiting for Yuuma so they could take shortcuts together, but it was nothing that she was supposed to know anyway.

"Yes, I am. I have a bit of trouble at home currently..." Vector averted his gaze, feigning sadness. "...and that's why I stayed here tonight."

From the kitchen, Tsukumo Haru walked over and looked at the ginger-haired boy. "You can stay as long as you want, I'm sure that makes Yuuma happy as well." As always, she was well-aware of Yuuma's feelings.

Vector gave them a smile again. "Thank you very much."

"Vec- Shingetsu! We have to hurry!" Yuuma reminded Vector while they both put on their shoes.

"We're heading out!"

~*~

"What shortcut is it this time, Vector? Please tell me it's not as dangerous as last time!" Yuuma hurried after Vector, exhausted from the speed at which the ginger-haired boy was running.

If Yuuma had to name one thing that Vector had never lied about, then he was sure it would be Vector's love for dangerous shortcuts.

Ever since he'd been reborn, Vector had taken the whole matter with the shortcuts to a new level. By now, they were all life-threatening at some point. Apparently, they managed to take away some of Vector's boredom.

Not that Yuuma minded, anyway: it distracted him from thinking about Astral. Distraction equaled happiness to him at this point.

And Vector seemed to take great pleasure in watching Yuuma struggle with the dangers of his shortcuts, anyway.

"This time, we're taking a fast route," Vector announced as he and Yuuma took a jump from one rooftop to another. "I have something to do at school, so we should get there in time."

"That's a first," Yuuma commented as he got up again after accidentally falling over. "Usually, you don't care if we're two hours late." He had to chuckle a bit about that.

That had been one of Vector's lies from the time before the Barian and Astral Worlds were merged back together. He used to say that he was taking shortcuts to get to school faster, but in fact he was doing it for fun and he was fully aware that the "shortcuts" would take longer than just taking the normal way.

Yuuma was aware of that by now, and he really didn't mind.

By now he had understood that Vector's current personality was the result of what Don Thousand's meddling had caused in connection with what the most recent events had changed.

Yuuma was sure that Vector would never be the Shingetsu Rei that he had pretended to be, but that's not what he wanted anyway. He had started to like Vector the way he wass. After all, everyone who Yuuma dueled was his friend.

"Wow, we're really here in time!" Yuuma exclaimed, astonished by the fact that he wasn't late for once in his life. When Vector wanted to get to school in time, he just did.

"Why does that actually surprise you?" Vector said, yawning as he looked around. He was looking for someone, that was obvious and Yuuma noticed it quickly.

Tilting his head, Yuuma asked, "Who are you looking for anyway?" A grin appeared on the boy's lips, but it was not like his usual grin. It was the one that he had grown accustomed to use in school.

"None of your business," Vector replied, not bothering to tell Yuuma. Yuuma was used to Vector's occasional harshness, but he wasn't really hurt by it. It was just Vector being... Vector.

Suddenly spotting the person he'd looked for, Vector narrowed his eyes. "See you in class."

With that, Vector left Yuuma alone, but the black-haired boy was quickly surrounded by the members of the Numbers club anyway.

"Nasch, let's talk for a bit," Vector declared, not really offering the purple-haired ex-Barian the opportunity to say "No". So the two of them went to the bathroom next to Ryouga's classroom, since that's an empty place at this early time of the day.

Ryouga sighed in response. "What is it this time, Vector? If it's one of your pranks again, I'm gonna pass." He didn't bother to tell Vector to not call him Nasch in public since Vector had been ignoring it from the start anyway.

"Just wanted to tell you that I'm gonna crash at Yuuma's place for a while," Vector said, grinning as he waited for Ryouga's reaction. "You know why."

Ryouga was well-aware of Yuuma's problems. In fact, he had tried to help him by dueling him. He'd tried so many times.

But there was just no way that Yuuma would snap out of it. He'd grown too dependent on Astral, and now those genuine emotions for his partner were eating the boy from the inside.

"So? What does that have to do with me?" Ryouga asked, crossing his arms. He knew there was something else behind that.

"I told him that you and Mizael kicked me out of the house because of that little prank I pulled some days ago," Vector explained, chuckling because Ryouga shot him a death glare. "So you know what to tell him if he asks."

Ryouga nodded anyway. "So why are you helping him? Sounds unusual for you." He didn't trust Vector yet. Yuuma had tried to make them trust each other, but it was hard for Vector, but even harder for Ryouga. After all, he'd been killed twice already by the ginger-haired boy.

"I can't stand his whining. If he's gonna act all happy, he's gotta do it right or not at all," Vector simply said. He put more emphasis on his point by making his best Shingetsu face, saying: "I thought it's for the best if everyone remembers that I'm never hurting anyone on purpose!" Sometimes it was hard to tell whether Vector used his catchphrase in a genuine manner or not. This time it was definitely the latter. His laughter gave it away.

Ryouga couldn't stand Vector's laugh. It sounded just as mad as it did a few months ago. But he did understand Vector's point. Apparently, their motivations were the same for now.

"Alright, I'll tell the others," he said, moving towards the door again. He had class to attend, after all.

~*~

"Class rep, don't be so strict about it, come on!" Yuuma whined while stuffing some duel rice balls in his mouth.

Class would start in ten minutes, enough time for Yuuma to indulge in playful fights with his friends. He'd asked the class rep to convince Ukyou-sensei to allow them to spend the first period dueling.

Yuuma was aware that nothing like that would happen, but he was trying hard to behave like himself. More often than not, he found himself thinking "How would I behave if Astral was still around?", just to be reminded that Astral won't be with him for quite a while.

Possibly forever.

Surely that didn't prevent Yuuma from pretending that Astral was around, but it also didn't help the situation at all.

Looking down at the Emperor's Key that he cradled gently in his hands, Yuuma had trouble suppressing a tear from surfacing.

He'd almost thought Kotori noticed, but then the green-haired girl turned her attention to Cathy, making Yuuma sigh in relief. Nobody noticed, anyway.

At that moment, a certain ginger-haired boy entered the classroom, making the Numbers Club freeze at once.

It was something Vector had gotten used to. They didn't like him, he didn't like them. They didn't understand what Yuuma liked about Vector anyway, it escaped their understanding as to why Astral had revived Vector.

Vector was well-aware of why his former enemy had resurrected him. It was obvious to him. He was _useful_ to Astral. The spectral being had deemed him useful due to the fact that Yuuma trusted him a lot. After all, someone had to look after the idiot while Astral was not within reach. And apparently, Astral thought that Vector 'owed' Yuuma for trying to save his life and all. Vector didn't agree with that, but it didn't prevent him from occasionally helping out when necessary. (Mostly, he didn't need to do anything because Nasch usually tried really hard - not that Yuuma realized any of that, anyway.)

Yuuma had disagreed. Aggressively. Back then, before they went to save Astral World for the second time, he'd said that Astral had forgiven Vector as well; that Astral would never use someone. Vector had laughed at that, dismissing Yuuma's attempts to convince him by remarking that Yuuma's wishful thinking was becoming outright stupid lately.

So now it was a regular morning. Everyone eyed Vector, he didn't bother interacting with them. Co-existence, huh?

He didn't understand why Yuuma had forgiven him.

But Vector had no reason to hurt Yuuma. It just wasn't fun. The boy would cry, get up again and get hurt again. That wasn't satisfactory at all.

Anyway - Vector still dreamed about the events of the times before everything had become "peaceful". Some memories loved to interfere with him being excessively hurtful towards Yuuma, but Vector chose the definition of 'excessively' on his own anyway.

"I'm sure he still has a flip side!" Tokunosuke shouted, apparently arguing with Yuuma over his apparent friendship with Vector.

"He's just being himself, and I'll believe in him, no matter what," Yuuma said, a small smile on his lips. He hadn't lifted his gaze from the Emperor's Key a single time during the last few minutes.

"Why did Astral revive Vector anyway? He's just hurt everyo-" But Tokunosuke couldn't speak more because Tetsuo quickly held his mouth shut. Yuuma's smile had vanished.

"Tokunosuke!" Kotori said in a displeased voice, but both Yuuma and Vector were well-aware that she probably agreed with him, even if she was unaware of her own emotions.

It was then that Yuuma stood up and quietly walked over to Vector's seat, sitting down next to him. Putting on his best fake smile, he said, "Shingetsu! I want to sit next to you since we haven't for such a long time!"

The first thing that Vector did was giving Yuuma his worst death glare. Then he sighed. Then, "Good idea, Yuuma-kun, let's duel after school!" His best Shingetsu voice. The one he didn't bother using if he didn't need to, anymore. No point.

He wasn't sure whether he'd done that to piss off Kotori and the brats... or just to help Yuuma. Probably a mix of both, with a tendency for the first.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Kotori's and Cathy's displeased attitudes.

Next to him, Yuuma was busy with the key again.

"Class begins," Ukyou said as he walked in.

The stares from the Numbers Club lasted through the whole lesson. Not that Vector cared.

Not that Yuuma noticed, either.

There was just one thing that Vector didn't quite grasp. Where did that fool's Kattobingu go?

Astral wasn't even dead.

There was Vector's lack of understanding for human emotions again. It had been too long since he'd been confronted with emotions like those.

He sighed.

Yuuma looked up towards Vector, red eyes met violet ones. "Something wrong, Shingetsu?"

Vector shook his head. "No."

He knew that Yuuma didn't particularly like his eyes they were right now. Permanently giving off the impression that he was really, really annoyed.

Which Vector - in fact - was.

It was just that Yuuma annoyed him less than other humans did.


	3. Chapter 3

"Finally we're done," Yuuma exclaimed, yawning and stretching himself. He felt the Numbers Club's stares on him. Of course he did. He knew why, they knew why. He had chosen Vector over them, or so they thought.

Of course it wasn't like that. Yuuma valued all of his friends equally.

But somehow, he felt more understood in the presence of the orange-haired ex-Barian. Maybe because Vector didn't desire to make him smile. Maybe because Vector didn't treat Yuuma's sadness as an illness that needed to be treated. Maybe because Vector didn't...

"Yuuma!" Tetsuo called him as he walked over to his seat. "Wanna duel? I've bought some new cards recently."

Yuuma looked up and sighed. "I don't want to."

Again, stares. Yuuma knew why. It wasn't like him to not duel. But it couldn't be helped. Not right now.

"To summarize, Yuuma is scared of losing without Astral," the class rep concluded, which earned him a hit from Kotori. Consideration wasn't his forte.

That was it.

Yuuma jumped over his table, taking his bag in the process, and ran out of the classroom. With a bit of a delayed reaction, Kotori went after him while the others decided to look at Vector.

"Don't blame me," the ex-Barian said as he gave them an uninterested gaze. "Not like dueling weaklings like you would be interesting for anyone, right?" A giggle.

Vector knew so well how to humiliate Yuuma's friends. But he had different priorities now, so when Tetsuo challenged him to a duel, he waved the request away like the nuisance it definitely was to him.

"I have to work, no time for that."

Work. There was that. All of the Barians had started having part-time and/or weekend jobs in order to afford their shared home. Most of these jobs were painfully obvious - for example, Nasch and Merag were mostly working in an aquarium.

But Vector's job was one that he did in the evening hours, meaning he had plenty of time to duel. But the fact that Yuuma had dropped his deck when he'd jumped over the table... was something that had priority for now.

Vector had taken it as a principle to not help Yuuma too much, but he'd figured that even an idiot should not deserve to lose his deck due to annoying friends.

So now Vector picked up Yuuma's deck and pocketed it carefully, walking out of the classroom calmly.

Not even halfway through the hallway, he saw Durbe. Durbe and Kotori, that was.

"But I need to see Yuuma!"

"He has a rough time right now, just leave him be."

_Seems like Nasch told Durbe to help out._

For Vector, it was convenient. It took some of the work away. He gave Durbe a brief nod - that nod was returned in the same brief fashion - and walked past the two.

~*~

Yuuma was still predictable.

Vector had been aware from the start that Yuuma would be at the station square. He'd heard the stories.

The stories of Yuuma's and Astral's first and last duel. About how they'd had fun. About how Yuuma'd been out of it ever since.

That's why it was obvious that Yuuma was at the station square.

Sitting down, Yuuma was staring at the Emperor's Key, lost in thought about someone who was so close, yet so far.

He knew he'd meet Astral again. It was just that it was agonizing, the idea of only meeting his best friend - his soulmate - when Astral World was in danger.

How was that fun? How was that fair?

Suddenly, something dropped - seemingly from the sky - into his lap.

His deck.

Yuuma looked up to see Vector's face. The orange-haired's expression was neutral, not giving away any emotion.

Vector sat down next to Yuuma. "Take better care of it."

Yuuma nodded, rubbing his eyes. He'd cried. Vector knew. Yuuma knew that Vector knew.

Still, Vector said nothing.

"Vector?"

"Hm?"

"I don't want to duel."

"Mhm."

Vector didn't really know what to say at all. The obvious choice for Yuuma would be to leave his deck at home. To Vector, it made sense that Yuuma didn't want to duel. He'd seen it.

Whenever Yuuma had two level 4 monsters, he would try to hold back the tears and XYZ summon Gagaga Gunman. By now, the card had become a proof of his loneliness. Yuuma didn't have any of the Numbers, anymore. More precisely, he didn't have Hope anymore.

Any physical memory of Astral except for the Emperor's Key was gone.

So whenever Yuuma tried to summon a Rank 4 XYZ monster, he'd shout "Show yourself, Num- I mean, Gagaga Gunman!", and he'd laugh nervously. And later, he'd cry.

Vector understood, although he didn't quite share the problem. He still had Rank-Up-Magic - Barian's Force in his deck (Not that he was able to use it outside of Astral World anyway, since he didn't have any Numbers anymore). A reminder of the past. He didn't cherish it, but it was good to have physical proof of one's memories. Yuuma didn't even have Numeron Force at this point since it only existed when Astral was with him.

A thing Vector would like to have back was his Over-Hundred-Numbers, though. Not that he'd get it back - it had vanished along with Don Thousand.

"Astral told me to smile." Yuuma muttered, almost quiet enough for Vector to not hear it.

"Not like smiling changes anything about your feelings." Vector sounded cold as he spoke, for he couldn't grasp Yuuma's emotions at all. It was like reading a book. He knew how emotions worked, but the years of being disconnected from his own memories changed him. The last time he'd vividly felt positive emotions was when he'd died. Strange, it was.

"What am I supposed to do?" Yuuma asked, his voice caught in a sob. He looked at Vector, tears showing in his eyes.

Vector sighed. "Just don't take your deck to school and they can't duel you, simply as that."

It felt strange to Yuuma. A world where he didn't duel. Something would be missing. But in the end, having his deck with him and still rejecting every duel was just the same as not bringing his deck to school in the first place. Still, it sounded like a better option than having the reminder of Astral's absence with him every day.

"I think I'll do that." Yuuma weakly said.

Some moments of silence passed, silence which Vector used to wonder as to how he could get away from here quickly.

Then suddenly, Yuuma's D-Gazer made a sound. Someone was calling.

"I bet it's Kotori," Yuuma muttered and took his D-Gazer out of his pocket, only to see that it wasn't Kotori. "Alit...?"

Yuuma accepted the call, causing Alit's grinning face to appear on the screen.

"Oy, Yuuma! You got some time to spare? We could watch a movie over at my place!"

Yuuma's eyes lightened up in anticipation of an occupation that wasn't dueling. He looked at Vector, feeling guilty for leaving the one who'd helped him alone.

Vector would've welcomed that a lot, but Alit didn't leave him such a choice.

"And you're invited, too, Vector. No buts," Alit added, winking at Yuuma.

"And what if I say no?" Vector retorted, not planning to come along at all. He knew this was part of what Nasch had arranged. But this didn't mean that he wanted to participate.

"Then I'll make sure that you can't come to pick up your clothes at night!" They heard Merag shout off-screen.

She had a point. Vector would need clothes sooner or later.

"Fine, I come along," Vector said, visibly annoyed.

Still, Yuuma was very happy about it. He smiled and said "We'll see you in half an hour then" before ending the call.

"Alright, how do we even get there?" He asked, rubbing his neck as he looked at Vector.

"You gave them a time frame without knowing how much time it takes to get there?" Vector shook his head in disbelief. He had known Yuuma was stupid, but not that stupid.

"Kind of," Yuuma said sheepishly, looking around. "It's strange that I've never been there, really."

"That's because we'd piss each other off if we invited people," Vector explained as he started walking. "Like that one time when Mizael had Kaito over at our place."

Yuuma remembered that one. Mizael and Kaito had tried to find out how to make Mizael's deck work without Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon, but their bickering had annoyed the other six former emperors so much that they'd kicked both Kaito and Mizael out for a few hours.

The only reason why Yuuma knew about it was because Kaito and Mizael had ended up continuing their meeting at his place back then.

He chuckled at the thought.

By now, he and Vector had arrived at the subway station.

"You're lucky, by the way," Vector said, smirking a little. "We need like twenty minutes from here."

Dumb luck was something Yuuma had indeed.

~*~

The former Barians had strange amounts of money, Yuuma noticed, and he wondered where they had it from. Their house was huge, but then again it was not surprising since they were seven people living together.

The sight that Yuuma witnessed when he first entered the living room was hilarious.

A bunch of DVDs were scattered on the floor with Rio, Shark and Alit sitting amidst them.

Mizael was sleeping on one of the three couches (apparently, the Barians had known they'd need a lot of space) and Yuuma could not help but to notice that it was funny how Mizael's face was covered by his own hair.

"Oh, Yuuma!" Alit exclaimed, standing up to greet his friend. "Sorry, we haven't managed to pick a movie yet."

Vector started laughing. "You guys really suck, you know that, right?"

"Not like you're helping anyway," Shark hissed as he looked at the movies.

Rio just smiled at that, not bothering with their bickering. "So, Vector..."

Vector gave her a death glare as he could tell from Rio's tone that she'd do something to piss him off very soon.

Yuuma had already sit down next to Shark to help with picking a movie, not listening to what Vector and Rio were talking about.

"Hey, hey, Shark~ What kind of movies do you guys like?" Yuuma asked. From looking at the movies, he could not tell what their taste was. Horror movies, action movies, history movies, dramas, strange anime... They didn't match.

"We never watch movies together because our tastes are so different," Mizael tiredly said, yawning as he cracked one eye open. "You guys are loud."

Yuuma had to laugh because of Mizael's hair covering half of his face. Mizael immediately realized, hastily fixing up his hair and sitting up.

"So... what movies are here thanks to whom?" Yuuma asked, looking at the history movie right next to him. But he didn't get an answer because right then, he heard something that sparked his attention.

Purposely talking louder, Rio asked, "Why didn't you tell us that you were crashing at Yuuma's place to help him out a little, Vector? We could've helped out, too." She smiled, but Vector knew she was internally laughing at his incoming misery.

Yuuma turned his head to the direction of Rio and Vector. "Wait, what?"

Vector sighed, cursing Rio mentally. Ever since they'd been reborn, they'd learnt to not hate each other's guts anymore, but the result had been that Rio took great pleasure in embarrassing Vector.

Yuuma's eyes were _shining_ at this point, something Vector definitely could not deal with. "You can stay as long as you want, Vector! It's awesome!"

"...Yeah," Vector said, not sure what to reply. "Anyway, let's try to pick a mo-"

"Still not done?" Durbe came in through the front door, followed by Gilag who greeted with a "Yo!".

"You look sort of exhausted, Durbe," Rio remarked as she sat down on the couch that was next to Mizael's. "Did something happen?"

"Well, I had to prevent Kotori from following Yuuma, so...," Durbe said, looking down at the movies on the floor, with his gaze halting at the history movie Yuuma was holding in his hands.

"Kotori? She tried to follow me?" Yuuma asked, looking at Vector now since he'd been in the classroom when that happened.

"Kind of," Vector said, shrugging as he picked up a horror movie from the ground.

"We figured you didn't wanna talk to her at that time," Shark added to the explanation.

"So, what movie is it?" Gilag asked, scratching his head.

And then they were all talking at the same time, discussing what movie would be okay for most of them... and they failed to notice how Vector simply put the horror movie into their DVD player, smiling like a child as he started it.

But when they noticed, no one except for Yuuma had objections anyway. It saved them time they'd otherwise spend discussing over which movie to watch.

Gilag and Alit chose to sit down next to Mizael, with Gilag getting some popcorn before doing so.

"But Vector! I can't stand horror movies!" Yuuma complained, pouting as he made himself comfortable next to Vector.

Durbe and Shark just sat down next to Rio, not bothering to argue with Vector's choice.

"We'll just watch all of the movies then," Rio decided, smiling as she was aware of how much fun that would be.

And so Yuuma gave up his pouting and just let it go.

~*~

Vector had enjoyed his horror movie to its fullest - or rather, he'd enjoyed the terrified reactions of the others (especially Shark's since the octopus-haired ex-Barian had - without success - tried to hide his small moments of fear).

After that, they'd watched an action movie so Alit, Gilag and Yuuma would be satisfied. Then there was something with dragons because Mizael had asked for it... which was fine for most of them, except for Vector ("Dragons are boring").

Essentially, every movie had at least one person who didn't enjoy it at all (except for Rio, who enjoyed them all). But then again nobody really minded, they knew their turn would come.

...Except for Shark and Durbe, anyway. It was almost 7 PM when the former Barians realized they'd almost forgotten something.

"Vector, Nasch, you need to go to work, don't you?" Rio pointed out, making Yuuma look at Vector and Shark with interest.

"You work? As what?" Yuuma hadn't known any of that.

"None of your business," Vector dodged the question, making Shark try to hold himself from laughing.

"Can I come along?" Yuuma insisted, looking at the two of them with a happy expression - an expression that he'd been lacking for quite a while now.

Vector shook his head and stood up. "Nasch and I still need to change. You guys can keep watching the movies."

"I need to go, too," Alit remarked, getting up. "You forgot we're working in the same location today, Vector? Anyway, just let Yuuma come along if he wants to." He gave Yuuma a thumbs-up while grinning.

Vector sighed while Shark was still chuckling. "You realize he's gonna see you, too, right, Nasch?!"

"I really don't care, this was definitely worth it," Shark said, now standing up as well.

"Thank you, Shark!" Yuuma said, now looking at the remaining former Emperors. "What about you guys?"

"We'll stay here," Durbe announced as he turned off the TV. Then he chuckled softly. "Gilag wants to come along though, doesn't he?"

Gilag nodded as he stood up. "I would never pass on such an opportunity!"

Yuuma didn't know what to make of that sentence, but he let it slide.

"I'm changing then. Vector, get Yuuma a change of clothes, too. It's not like he's gonna go to a concert in his school uniform." With these words, Shark went to his own room and closed the door behind himself.

...

Yuuma took a moment to process the information.

"A concert?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at all of my awkward Vector and Nasch headcanons. This fic just asked for them.  
> Feedback is always appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

Yuuma was seeing things that he'd never expected to see again. One of them was Shark wearing the Barian emblem pendant again. The other one Shark having his bass guitar.

"Shark, I thought that was a one-time thing," Yuuma said in a surprised manner. He remembered that school festival pretty well - one of the funnier days, at least until Vector had decided to brainwash people.

Shark shrugged in response. "We needed money and Chouno Sanagi's manager called me some weeks ago. He ended up telling me that I should come to perform with her every now and then and that I'd get a nice sum of money for it. And yeah, I kind of didn't mind..." He avoided Yuuma's gaze as the shrimp-haired boy looked at him in fascination.

"That's so cool, Shark!" Yuuma exclaimed, smiling. "So, what does Vector do at the concert?"

Vector had given Yuuma a change of clothes - almost too dark for Yuuma's taste, but oddly fitting at the same time - and disappeared inside his room without another word.

"Let's say this much: he makes use of his vocal range," Shark said, chuckling. He didn't hide how great he felt about annoying Vector by taking Yuuma along to the concert, for it was obvious he still didn't like Vector very much. But liking him wasn't necessary - the former Barians weren't connected by how much they liked each other; they were connected by their history.

At that moment, Vector stepped out of his room. He was wearing black clothes - something no one was surprised about anymore - and the first thing Yuuma noticed was that Vector's ears had quite a few piercings on them.

"So you're a singer, Vector?" Yuuma asked, looking at Vector excitedly.

Vector glared at Shark before returning his attention to Yuuma. "Yeah, it's an easy way to earn money."

"Alright, let's go," Alit said, looking like he was in a hurry. "You're gonna like it where we're going, Yuuma."

"Don't give him any alcohol," Shark said with an annoyed expression as they left the house, waving goodbye to the remaining former Barians.

Yuuma gave them a questioning expression, but no one bothered to notice it or react to it.

Gilag looked like it was his birthday - his happiness was undeniably visible. He was leading the group as they walked to the train station.

"So, Gilag is there to listen to the concert because of Chouno Sanagi, right?" Yuuma asked, smiling about everyone's - except for Vector, anyway - positive attitudes.

"Yeah," Gilag replied, grinning. "And thanks to Nasch, I always have a place in the first row."

Shark simply nodded, crossing his arms. He had known how much Gilag liked Sanagi, so he'd helped out with that.

Meanwhile, Yuuma was still trying to get used to how the Barians called Shark 'Nasch'. It felt wrong, but he knew how right it must feel to them.

"By the way, Alit, are you there to listen, too?" Yuuma asked, looking at Alit with interest.

Alit shook his head and laughed. "No, it's not my kind of music. I just work at the bar. Selling the drinks and stuff. I have a lot of different jobs, but most of them bore me. And this time I got the opportunity to watch Vector sing, so I accepted the job." That earned him a death glare from Vector.

For the rest of the train ride, they remained silent, with Yuuma's thoughts drifting back to what they'd been focused on for the last two months: Astral.

His attention returned to the Emperor's Key and he didn't notice Shark's and Vector's simultaneous sighing; he also didn't notice Alit's worried gaze.

He could be distracted by things that weren't dueling, but ultimately his thoughts always returned to Astral. Astral felt like a part of him and missing Astral was the worst thing ever. He understood that he needed to cheer up, but he just didn't want to miss Astral anymore.

For a moment, Yuuma thought about calling Kaito and V to ask about how their progress regarding the dimensional transporter was. But then again he was scared - scared of hearing them say "No", crushing his hope. They would also run out of astrite soon, something they desperately needed to travel to Astral World.

Yuuma sighed. Just then, he felt his D-Gazer vibrate inside his pocket. Pulling it out, he realized Akari was calling, so he quickly took the video call. "Akari-nee-chan, what is it?"

Akari looked worried as she spoke. "Kotori told me you ran away after class, is everything alright? Where are you right now?"

Yuuma bit his lip, trying to find an excuse. "Wait a moment, nee-chan." He muted the call and looked at the others. "What should I say?"

Shark sighed, his arms remaining crossed. "Say you're sleeping over at my place. She doesn't know Vector lives with me, so this should be safe."

Yuuma's eyes lightened up. "Thanks, Shark!" He unmuted the call, and so Akari's impatient face returned.

"So?" Akari asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sleeping over at Shark's place. I hope that's okay for you," Yuuma said as he tried to smile, but it ended in a miserable failure.

"What about that Shingetsu kid?" Akari still seemed quite worried and Yuuma just hoped that Kotori wasn't at his house right now since Kotori knew the truth about the Barians. Yuuma hadn't bothered with the details back then, so Akari and Haru only knew that he'd been off to fight a threat from a another dimension.

"Shingetsu's sleeping over at Shark's place, too," Yuuma now reassured Akari.

Akari sighed before giving up. "Fine, but take care of yourself."

Yuuma nodded. "I will. See you, nee-chan!" With that, he dropped the call.

The four Barians and Yuuma sighed in relief.

~*~

The concert hall was filled with excited people of all ages. While Yuuma still felt a little down, he was looking forward to seeing why Shark and Alit found the fact that Vector was gonna sing so amusing.

Immediately after they entered, Shark and Vector left them to go backstage. That left Yuuma with Gilag and Alit, although Gilag quickly left for the first row. Yuuma had gotten a VIP ticket from Shark, meaning he could've went to the first row, too. But Yuuma wasn't in the mood for that, so he sat down at the bar where Alit was selling drinks of both the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic kind.

Yuuma took a moment to question why Alit was even allowed to sell alcohol, given that he was 14 according to his ID card. But then Yuuma remembered that Shark was regularly riding a motorcycle, which was just as illegal as Alit's occupation. He decided to drop the thought.

"Can I have some coke?" Yuuma asked, and Alit granted him his wish.

He tried to not focus on the Emperor's Key, but it was hard to do so now that his main two distractions were gone. He just hoped that the concert would start soon.

"Hello, everyone!"

Just in time.

Yuuma turned around to see Vector, Shark and Chouno Sanagi on stage, all of them smiling. Vector was holding a microphone and speaking in his Shingetsu voice and Yuuma heard many people in the audience shout his name.

And then it began.

Yuuma tried his best to not laugh, but it was really hard not to and he choked on his coke, coughing a little.

"Now I get why Vector didn't want me to see it," Yuuma said, still laughing.

Alit just chuckled, apparently he'd seen it a few times already.

So here Vector was, singing about duels and how they made his heart pound, how he wanted everyone to share his excitement. Even more confusing was the fact that Shark was actually smiling. And next to them was Chouno Sanagi, apparently enjoying her duet with Vector a lot.

Yuuma tried to not fall from his chair when he heard Vector sing something like "Is your effect that you can make me smile once per turn?". While Yuuma had no idea of love, he knew that it definitely wasn't about cheesy dueling-related pick-up lines. Nonetheless, the crowd was cheering.

"Is he doing this very often?" Yuuma asked, looking at Alit again.

Alit shook his head as he handed Yuuma another glass filled with coke. "He's a solo artist, but collaborations with Sanagi earn him a lot of money, so he occasionally agrees to have performances with her."

"It's amazing how all of you guys work to afford your house," Yuuma said, emptying the glass in one go. His throat felt dry and he didn't know why, but it probably had something to do with his emotional state.

"It's something we have to do," Alit replied, shrugging as he walked over to some people who wanted to get drinks - mainly alcoholic ones.

Yuuma had never shown any interest in alcohol and now that his conversation partner was gone, he put his arms on the table and rested his head on them, sighing as he looked at the Emperor's Key that was lying in front of him.

"Astral..." Yuuma muttered as he silently wished that Astral could be here with him.

He imagined how Astral would ask him why everyone was excited. How Astral would ask what alcohol was, how Astral would make observations.

Closing his eyes, Yuuma sighed.

He realized that he hadn't changed. And that realization hurt him.

Back when he'd thought Astral to be dead, he'd chased Astral, forgetting everything and everyone else. How was this any different from back then?

When even Vector - Vector, the one who was the least likely to do this - worried for him, it must mean that something was wrong with him.

Yuuma wondered why Kattobingu didn't work when it came to missing Astral.

_Because it's nothing I can influence._

He was no scientist. He wasn't Kaito or V. He wouldn't be able to build a dimensional transporter on his own, and he could not influence the time it would take for Kaito and V to do it.

His thoughts were running in circles and he felt a tear run down his cheek.

~*~

One hour had passed in which Alit had been too busy with the customers to talk to Yuuma very much, leaving the younger boy to his own thoughts.

Yuuma's ears had gotten accustomed to the happy songs and he was able to ignore them without problems.

But then suddenly, a completely different kind of song started playing. Alternative rock, Yuuma would guess, and he turned his attention back to see that both Chouno Sanagi and Shark were gone, replaced by two different guitarists. And what was the most surprising was the fact that Vector was using his real voice.

Some people had left, too, and new people were coming in.

Alit walked over to Yuuma again, grinning. "This is Vector when he sings his own songs."

"He writes them?" Yuuma asked, surprised.

Alit nodded. "Yeah, all of them. Sometimes he doesn't get out of his room for days because of a song."

They spotted Gilag moving through the crowd, apparently having lost interest as Sanagi was not there anymore. He sat down at the bar, asking Alit for "the usual", whatever that was.

Yuuma soon found out that it was a mixture of different fruit juices that Alit knew how to mix well.

While Yuuma had never really bothered with music at all, he found Vector's music strangely enjoyable. Vector was singing about all kinds of things (that were not dueling), mainly negative emotions or his lack of emotion towards people and things that were attempting to drag him down. Some songs were about war, too.

Yuuma couldn't help but to wonder whether Vector felt the way the lyrics were or if he had written the music from a different person's point of view. It felt strange to think that Vector might be more emotional than what Yuuma had started to believe.

This went on for another hour. Yuuma had fun listening to the lyrics and he even was able to recognize himself in some of them. Mainly the ones that dealt with regret.

And so Yuuma failed to notice that Shark had sat down next to him.

"Having fun?"

Yuuma flinched, surprised by Shark's presence. He quickly nodded. "Y-Yeah. He's a totally different person when he's performing with Sanagi."

"It's part of the job. He can do any collaborations with that vocal range," Alit explained, handing Shark some cold water. "Or so the people say." He stretched.

Gilag yawned, not impressed by Vector's music at all. Of course he was not. But nonetheless he waited with them for Vector.

A few songs later, Vector's solo part of the concert was over. He quickly jumped down from the stage and made his way through the crowd, not bothering with the fans that asked him for autographs.

"We're leaving," he declared, looking at his four companions with a slightly tired expression (which was no wonder since he'd been performing for more than two hours straight).

Alit threw a towel in Vector's direction, knowing the orange-haired boy definitely needed it.

The security was keeping the fans off Vector and so the group had no trouble getting out of the concert hall.

"Vector, why did you never tell me you were this famous?" Yuuma asked as they were walking. It was dark already and the moon shone upon them.

"I am not famous," Vector responded tiredly. "It's more that people in there are just so easy to amaze." He looked really worn out after all, the moonlight made that even more visible.

"He isn't always like this after a concert," Alit said with a grin as he crossed his arms behind his head. "It's more that he usually doesn't have two of them in a row."

Yuuma laughed slightly, feeling better right now. "Gilag, you do like Sanagi a lot, don't you?"

Gilag nodded with a smile. "Ever since I came to earth back then."

"Wait, you watched Sanagi even when you were supposed to fight me and Astral?" Yuuma winced when he said his partner's name.

"He was slacking off," Shark explained as they reached the train station and got inside the train. "Just like Alit."

"I wasn't slacking off!" Alit jokingly protested. "I was just looking for a challenge."

"Alit, we gotta duel one d-" Yuuma realized what he was about to say. He smiled, laughed nervously. "Never mind."

Alit sighed, about to say something, but Vector stopped him.

"Not today," Vector said as if he knew what Alit wanted to say. "It's late and I think it's for the best if there are no arguments or discussions for tonight."

Alit clenched his teeth, again about to voice protest, but Shark's stare kept him silent.

Gilag did not quite understand the issue because he wasn't as involved with Yuuma as the others were. He didn't dislike Yuuma, but they weren't close friends either.

Yuuma was thankful to Vector right then, but he kept quiet for the rest of the train ride.

~*~

Returning home, they found Rio and Durbe dueling in the living room.

"Dueling again?" Shark asked as he walked in. From what he could see, it was pretty even so far.

"Yeah, we don't want to get rusty," Rio said, chuckling because Shark looked exhausted. "Unlike you."

"I'm just busy," Shark hissed, not in the mood for jokes. But Rio understood why, everyone understood that.

Shark didn't cope well with the loss of his Numbers. Not at all. Similar to Yuuma's incapability of coping with it, but less emotional because it wasn't his most important person that he'd lost. It was just... a part of his life.

Without another word except for "Good night", he went to his room.

Vector yawned. "Yuuma, get some pajamas from my room," he simply said as he walked to the direction of the bathroom. "I'm gonna take a shower. You can sleep in my room if you find some blankets."

And so the evening came to its end, with Yuuma falling into an uneasy sleep that was still not as uneasy as it could have been.

Maybe his friends were able to help him heal after all.


	5. Chapter 5

When Yuuma woke up the next day, he was alone in Vector's room. He took notice of the light coming from the direction of the door, and he wondered what time it was. It didn't matter because it was saturday, but Yuuma figured that Akari would call him later, if only to check if he was alright.

He turned over, unsure whether he wanted to get up or not. Then he noticed that something was missing. To be exact, his usual feeling of worry was missing. Almost as if part of his current burden had been lifted. He hadn't dreamt of Astral - the thought of Astral made him wince - either that night.

Maybe things were finally getting better... or so he thought, until he realized that the cause of his improved emotional condition was the fact that the Emperor's Key was gone.

Within a few seconds, Yuuma was on his feet and rushed to the kitchen, still wearing Vector's black pajamas.

"The Key is gone!", he shouted, not bothering to greet anyone.

The others were in the process of having breakfast at the time - or at least some of them were. Yuuma quickly noticed that Gilag, Rio, Shark and Durbe were missing, but he quickly figured they had something to do.

"Oy, good morning, Yuuma!"" Alit greeted. He was currently occupied with his scrambled eggs and it was clear that he was far from being done eating.

Mizael didn't say anything as he was busy eating his miso soup, but his expression gave away that he wasn't a morning person at all. And if Yuuma had paid a bit more attention, he would have been able to notice the fact that Mizael glared at Vector every now and then.

And then Yuuma realized where the Emperor's Key was. "Vector, why do you have the Key?"

Vector looked up. He'd been staring at the Key for a while now and his rice stood untouched in front of him. "I thought it's for the best." It wasn't quite the friendly tone in which he said that - in fact, it was almost mocking -, but everyone in the room was quite aware of what he meant by that. Even Yuuma was. The Key did nothing good for him.

"I know you just mean well, but... I feel better when I have the Key with me," Yuuma said, sighing as he sat down at the table. He held out his hand. "Give it back."

Vector didn't object, returning the Key to Yuuma. Then he yawned. Sure, he did have the intention to help Yuuma, but if the boy didn't want to get help, Vector wouldn't insist. He did care about Yuuma - a weakness he could not deny -, but definitely not enough to be that invested in those emotional matters. He quickly finished his bowl of rice, eating at a speed that was even faster than Yuuma's.

Yuuma was looking at the Key, feeling worse again. He was aware of the fact that the Key was not helping him at all currently, but he just couldn't bring himself to abandon the last symbol of his bond with Astral.

He looked up to see a bowl of rice in front of him.

"There, eat," Alit said, grinning at Yuuma. He was the most easygoing of all the former Barians about the situation as he felt that pressuring Yuuma did no good. While Vector agreed with that, the ginger-haired Barian occasionally still did things that Yuuma did not approve of whenever he considered them necessary. "Oy, if you don't wanna duel anymore, how about we work out together?"

Working out. Yuuma definitely wasn't the type of person for that, although he would have liked some distraction. He ended up declining with an apologetic smile and ate up his rice, and so did Vector.

Mizael sighed and soundly dropped his dishes in the kitchen sink, making Yuuma flinch. Mizael had thought about holding back, he really had. But from what he'd heard from Kaito about Yuuma, he knew it was time to do something about the situation. And no matter how much he couldn't stand Vector, he also didn't approve of Vector not behaving like himself, either.

So he looked at Yuuma. "Stop being so pathetic, Yuuma." It was the first time he'd said something ever since Yuuma had entered the room. "And you, too, Vector." He narrowed his eyes.

Yuuma's eyes widened at being called pathetic, but he lacked a reason to deny it.

"What?" Vector asked, surprised by Mizael's sudden outburst.

"You two behave like _insects_ lately. Yuuma grieves over things that can't be changed, and you - _you_ , of all people - go along with it, Vector!" It was rare for Mizael to start an argument with Vector nowadays. Mainly because they could not solve any arguments properly, anymore - none of their decks were in a playable condition due to the lack of the Numbers, and that realization had made them lose the mood to duel. Alit had it easier than them - he still had two of his XYZ monsters left.

Surely they could fight with swords (as all of the Barians knew how to wield swords - even Rio, who had learnt the basics from Ryouga and got increasingly better at it with every day that passed), and both Mizael and Vector heavily considered doing exactly that. But since it usually ended with one or both of the participants of the fight being incapacitated, it would take more aggression for them to take that step.

Today was strangely different from the daily life of the Barians, and Vector couldn't help but to silently think that it was due to Yuuma's presence.

"Do you think you're the right person to say that?" Vector laughed in a way that made Yuuma shiver at the memories of the other times he'd heard that laugh. "You're the one who obsesses over a dragon."

Mizael didn't bother holding back on insults. "You bastard..."

"Wanna duel?" Vector asked with a grin, a grin that widened when he saw Mizael's angry expression. "Oh wait, you can't. Mustn't it be hard? You lost your _dear_ Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon, but your new friend Kaito still has his Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. Isn't that sad?"

"In a fair duel, you would not stand a chance against me," Mizael said, outright ignoring that bit about Kaito and Galaxy-Eyes. "In a fair sword fight, you'd lose as well. But you resort to cheap tricks there, just as you do everywhere."

"I'm pretty sure I won last time," Vector said. He'd always been the kind of person who'd kick dirt into his opponent's face if it gave him an advantage - something that Mizael did not approve of, yet Vector considered it completely legitimate.

While Yuuma did not understand anything of what was currently going on (Vector did tease Yuuma on a regular basis and was never the friendliest, but never had he been this antagonistic following his revival), Alit was used to it. Vector was surprisingly easy to get along with when he was in a good mood nowadays, and Alit would even say that it was possible to be friends with him. However in situations like these, it was different.

Vector tended to quickly revert to his old ways, for a lifetime of madness could not be changed just by the smile of Yuuma and none of the former Barian Emperors had forgotten what Vector had done.

Things were getting better lately though, and Alit didn't like seeing them get worse again. Usually, Durbe would be the one to solve these problems, but as he and the other remaining Barians were busy with work, Alit took it upon himself to solve this argument.

"Both of you, stop this right now. If you want to fight, then do it, but don't argue," Alit said. He found that a sword fight was a better solution to an argument rather than pointlessly provoking each other. Even with the whole fairness matter, a fight would be a better means of solving a conflict.

Yuuma shook his head. "Alit! I don't want them to fight."

But Alit simply grinned. "Last time Mizael and I had a disagreement, we've fought as well and everything was fine afterwards."

"Last time Mizael and I fought," Vector said, grinning. "He ended up in the hospital."

"You did, too, though," Alit replied with a shrug.

"If you have time to talk, then come and get your sword and we'll fight," Mizael hissed, leaving the kitchen, quickly being followed by Vector.

Yuuma was visibly unhappy with this. "Alit, why do you let them do that?"

"It's just like dueling," Alit simply replied with a grin. "You take all of your force and smash it into your enemy. That's how we do things. Wanna learn how to do it, too?"

Yuuma considered it. It was a great opportunity to use the whole energy that he just couldn't get rid off because he didn't duel as often as he did before. "I might take you up on that offer, but first I want to watch their fight."

"Then come, we usually fight in the backyard."

~*~ 

It took a while to set everything up because Mizael and Vector had to change clothes before fighting, but when they were ready, the tension was clearly there.

Yuuma was taken aback by the size of the Barian mansion's backyard. And there stood Vector and Mizael, ignoring the beauty of the flowers and trees around them, only focusing on each other.

Both had taken a fighting stance and Yuuma could feel how concentrated they were. Both of them were using swords that looked identical and - Yuuma had to admit that - plain.

"Those are training swords, they aren't sharp," Alit explained at Yuuma's gaze. "If they used their actual swords, their lives would be in danger. Let's say that much." He laughed a little, not bothered much by it.

"So why did they end up in the hospital last time?" Yuuma asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Isn't that obvious? The swords are still made of metal, you know," Alit said, moving towards Vector and Mizael. "I assume you guys want to skip the formalities?"

"Not like someone like him would even take part in any formalities," Mizael said, glaring at Vector.

"Then you can fight now," Alit said, stepping aside swiftly.

Just fast enough anyway, as Mizael immediately lunged at Vector.

Apparently the smaller boy had been prepared as he quickly evaded the attack, Mizael's sword missing his face by a hairbreadth.

It quickly became clear that Vector made use of his small physique. While his swordsmanship was decent, it was clearly not as precise as Mizael's. However, Vector's footwork offered no openings.

"Woah! It isn't anything like Kendo at all!" Yuuma exclaimed, surprised by that. On second thought, it was very obvious though - the only Barian Emperor who had lived in a Japanese culture was Gilag, after all. And somehow, although Yuuma had been against the idea of Mizael and Vector fighting, he couldn't help but to admire what they did.

A heated fight, pouring one's heart into every move, almost like... dueling. Yuuma couldn't help but to feel that this was it. The way out. A way to live without constant thoughts of Astral, to step forward and to reach for the future.

Wasn't that what he'd always asked for?

He could see why the Barians did that instead of dueling (and he realized that the only reason why Rio and Durbe didn't quit dueling was in case another supernatural threat was to come upon them). He smiled to himself as he watched Vector duck down in an attempt to dodge Mizael's attack.

This whole fight, Vector had avoided actually crossing blades with Mizael. He'd just spent his time evading Mizael's attacks while observing his opponent's movements. The only time he'd been driven into a corner was when he had been forced to parry Mizael's hit for real.

Right then, Yuuma had seen Vector's hand tremble.

Suddenly, Yuuma realized that Vector's aim had not been to just dodge Mizael's last attack at all. Right when Mizael was about to strike again, Vector grabbed a strand of Mizael's hair and pulled his head downwards. Mizael's eyes widened because he knew what Vector was gonna do, but there was no way to prevent the impact of Vector's knee in his stomach region.

"I'm not gonna break your nose this time," Vector said, using Mizael's moment of distraction to kick the blonde Barian's leg. Footwork had always been his forte and Mizael's weakness. So it didn't surprise Vector at all when Mizael lost his balance, finding Vector's sword at his throat a split-second later.

"I win," Vector stated the obvious as he smirked. Alit silently sighed and Yuuma was just stunned by what he'd seen. "You can't beat me, Mizael."

"You bastard..." Mizael hissed, waiting until Vector removed his sword before getting up again. "I told you, you can't win in a fair fight."

"I considered that pretty fair," Vector said, smiling innocently. "I didn't break your nose. It would be for the worst if poor Kaito showed up here again, after all." His expression darkened for a moment.

"Kaito?" Yuuma gave Alit a questioning look, for he somehow knew Alit would have the most accurate answer if he asked what the matter with Kaito was.

"Last time when Mizael and Vector returned from the hospital and Mizael's nose was still broken, Kaito was pretty mad and caused a lot of trouble here with his challenge," Alit explaining, laughing. He didn't seem bothered by it. "Anyway, Kaito is a great opponent because he is talented, but he has no experience. Yet."

"Wait, Kaito does that sword fighting thing, too?" Yuuma was surprised, but he felt a little sad over the fact that nobody had told him of the new hobby everyone had.

Mizael was the one who nodded, despite still glaring at Vector. "Kaito learnt most of his techniques from V. The Arclights are really good at this - honorable opponents, unlike a certain other person here."

Vector just giggled in response.

"So, why did I not know any of this?" Yuuma decided to ask what was bothering him.

"We wanted to see if you can recover first," Alit explained, crossing his arms behind his head.

And Mizael continued, "Ultimately Vector was the one who didn't want to watch you in this state anymore. We didn't think a guy like him would be the first one to make a move, though." He didn't hide his disgust when he said Vector's name.

"Not counting Nasch's futile attempts anyway." Vector added for clarification.

"Shark..." Yuuma muttered. He had known that Ryouga had tried to help him, but hearing it from the others made it all the more real. Then he smiled a little. "Thank you, all of you."

At that very moment, Yuuma's D-Gazer buzzed. "Akari...?" He assumed, but he was surprised when he saw that it was someone else. "Whose number is this...?" He took the call to see V and Kaito appear on the screen.

"Kaito! And... V!" Yuuma exclaimed, surprised and what he was seeing. Mizael walked over to Yuuma, glancing at Vector every now and then to see if the ginger would try anything.

"Oh, Mizael is with him, just as I said," Kaito observed, earning a slightly surprised gaze from V.

"Why did you call me?" Yuuma asked, as V had never called him before.

"We wanted to ask Mizael how the situation concerning you is, not that I understand why Kaito-sama would-" Yuuma saw Orbital 7 move into the picture, only to be shut up by Kaito.

Yuuma couldn't help but to chuckle. It made him happy that everyone thought like this about his well-being.

Kaito sighed visibly. "Well now you've heard it. The reason why we called you... Mizael never even looks at his D-Gazer because he isn't used to having one."

That was a problem for Mizael and most of the Barians, as they did not require D-Gazers for the biggest part of their lives.

But in the end, Yuuma couldn't suppress the urge to ask that one question. "How does the work on the dimensional transporter go?"

V shook his head a little. "We lack the resources. And there are no distortions, currently, so that makes the probability of a successful transport lower." He gave Yuuma an apologetic gaze. "Sorry."

Yuuma offered a weak smile in response. "No problem." Then he realized that there was someone he'd wanted to see for a while now. "Is III there?" While he could've asked Alit to teach him, he somehow felt like this was the perfect opportunity to move forward and get in contact with everyone again. That's why he'd been wanting to see III. Yuuma very vividly remembered that time where III had thrown a sword at Mr. Heartland.

"Why don't you guys come over here?" V asked in return. "Mizael was going to visit Kaito anyway, so you and whoever else is there can come over."

Yuuma expression lightened up. "That would be awesome! Alright, we'll come over soon!"

"Alright, bye," Kaito said, the usual cold expression.

With the call ending, Yuuma turned his attention back to the Barians.

Mizael and Vector did not argue anymore, as Vector's victory was undeniable and Mizael felt like he'd disgrace himself if he continued to argue after a fight. No matter how unfair that fight may have felt to him.

"Why do you want to meet that III guy?" Alit asked, honestly curious.

"I need someone who teaches me how to use a sword, don't I?" Yuuma responded with a wide grin, and he failed to notice that just for a second, all of the three Barians were smiling a little.

_"Kattobingu da, ore!"_


	6. Chapter 6

A bunch of teenagers (two of which were glaring at each other) with swords were casually walking down the streets.

Yuuma did not stop to question why nobody bothered asking them how they got weapons.

He did take a moment to look at Vector's, Alit's and Mizael's swords though - apparently, they'd decided to take their real swords for whatever they were going to do at Kaito's place.

All of the hilts had color schemes that reminded Yuuma of their Barian forms, and he somewhat wondered what the blades would look like, as he hadn't seen the swords unsheathed yet.

Yuuma had asked them where they'd gotten those swords, and the response did not surprise him in the slightest: the Arclights were involved in it.

He wanted a sword, too. The enthusiasm that filled Yuuma was almost like the one he'd felt when he'd first started dueling, and he smiled at the thought.

When Yuuma entered the training room in Dr. Faker's facility, the first thing he saw was... something that heavily reminded him of that one time when he'd broken into Kaito's lab in order to retrieve the Emperor's Key.

It was Orbital 7, fighting against III. It didn't look very good for III, either - Orbital was in his fighting form and his drills were giving III a hard time. Not like a sword was enough to parry a drill's impact.

"What's going on?" Yuuma asked when he spotted Kaito who was watching the fight with a smirk.

It was V, standing next to Kaito, who answered. "They are dueling."

"That's one great duel!" Alit shouted - he was visibly excited, for this was the closest any activity could get to his fighting spirit.

Yuuma found the term "duel" odd in this situation, but he said nothing. After all, this was a substitute for actual dueling, and from the looks of it, it was actually working for III and the Barians.

"Orbital needs practice," Kaito provided the reason for them to duel.

Mizael nodded in an approving manner, meeting Kaito's gaze for a second.

Seeing III dodge Orbital's attacks by a mere hair's breadth, Yuuma doubted that Orbital really needed practice.

At least that's what he thought until III had his sword right under the metal plate under which Orbital's core was hidden.

Essentially, III could wound the robot mortally if he pushed the sword even one bit forward.

And then the boy smiled, removing his sword from the dangerous spot and bowing once. "That was a great fight, Orbital."

"You still need practice, Orbital" Kaito spoiled the praise, but his smile gave away that he approved of Orbital as well.

"K-Kaito-sama!" Orbital seemed in delight and Yuuma couldn't help but to chuckle a little.

"Yuuma," III said, now turning his attention toward him. Then his brows furrowed a little and he looked at his older brother. "Brother, are you sure this is-"

"Stop treating him like a baby, he can't sulk forever and we can't hide forever that we've started doing this," Vector interrupted III harshly. III glared at Vector, but the ginger-haired boy did not take that seriously at all, shrugging with a grin.

"Michael, I don't like saying it, but I agree with Vector," V now said, a sigh in his voice.

Yuuma looked from III to Vector, unable to hide the sadness in his eyes. "Why did you hide this from me? Isn't it just like dueling?"

"They didn't think you were ready to move on," Alit explained, obviously not agreeing with that opinion.

"Move on?" Yuuma did not understand, or perhaps he did not want to understand. So his gaze went to the Emperor's Key, and he understood. "Ah..."

He was a bad liar, after all.

"Exactly," Kaito said, not letting silence slip into the conversation. "So, will you take up this new challenge? Isn't that your 'Kattobingu'?"

Yuuma grinned, and he failed to notice that Vector's expression mirrored his own.

"That's what he had come here for to begin with," Vector revealed. "Jyan jyan!"

"Wait, how does Yuuma even know about this?" Yuuma turned around to see IV stand in the doorway.

"IV!" Yuuma shouted, happy to see the man.

"Me and Miza-chan..." Mizael glared at Vector. "...took the liberty to show Yuuma a little fight," Vector provided as an answer to IV's question.

"So you were ahead of us," V concluded, nodding more to himself than anything else. "We had originally planned to tell Yuuma about this today, but it seems that is not necessary."

IV was carrying his sword as well, and Yuuma's eagerness to try it as well was increasing at every minute.

"By the way," Kaito now said, looking at III and then at Yuuma. "Didn't you ask for III earlier?"

"Oh, yeah!" Yuuma smiled. "I wanted to ask him to teach me how to use a sword."

"It would be an honor." III returned the smile, having hoped to be allowed to do that.

"He doesn't need to practice dodging, by the way," Vector provided as an advice. "He's the one who managed to escape from the traps in my Numbers ruin, after all."

"Don't remind me of that," Yuuma said, a slight laugh in his voice. While he was able to make jokes about the time when Vector was still out to kill him, he didn't like being reminded of it too often.

"Well, we should get some training swords then," III said, apparently waiting for Orbital to get them.

"Why aren't you using your real sword, III?" Yuuma asked, looking at the sword that was hanging from the belt around III's waist.

"It's a bit dangerous to fight with these swords when you have no experience," Alit answered instead, grinning. "I actually used my real sword from the start."

"And you almost chopped your own hand off," Mizael harshly reminded him, but immediately regretted doing so.

"And you didn't, Miza-chan?" Vector asked, giggling when Mizael scowled at him.

"Let's just give him his real sword," Kaito said with a sigh. "Orbital."

"Understood!" And with that, Orbital rushed away.

"My real... sword?" Yuuma was confused.

"Did you think we were not prepared for this?" Vector didn't hide the fact that he was very satisfied with the situation.

~*~

"Hope," Yuuma breathed the word, rather than really saying it.

The sword's hilt was golden, reminiscent of Hope's sealed form, and it had a green gem in its center. The blade was white, and Yuuma saw that his name was engraved in it.

"Is this... really for me?" Yuuma stared at the sword, unable to believe that his friends had done that for him. He didn't notice the small tears of happiness that made their way to his eyes.

"Yeah," Kaito said with a nod, watching Yuuma struggle under the swords weight. He then looked at Mizael. "You were right about this after all, Mizael. If we had made him a heavier sword, he wouldn't have been able to use it."

"Mizael helped?" Yuuma asked, surprised about that. He wasn't on bad terms with Mizael, but he definitely had not expected Mizael to help with that.

"Actually, everyone helped for this one," Mizael said in response.

Yuuma turned to looked at Vector, who suddenly felt the urge to avoid his gaze.

"Even you, too, Vector?" Yuuma asked.

"The design was my idea," Vector replied - a bit too fast because Alit laughed at him.

"But you ended up leaving the details to Nasch and Merag." Alit grinned.

"Hey, you didn't even do anything!" Vector scowled.

"It was my idea to make him a sword before telling him about this," Alit protested, and he kept bickering with Vector...

...until Yuuma laughed.

"You guys are great," Yuuma said, an honest smile on his face. "Thank you so much."

~*~

Fighting was hard.

Yuuma had - just as Vector had suspected - no problems dodging III's attacks (although III didn't try that hard, either), but he did have problems getting used to the sword's weight.

Unfortunately, none of his two training partners - Vector and III, the others had gone to another room in order to not disturb them - actually had an idea how to teach him about handling the sword correctly.

III could tell Yuuma all he wanted about technique, but Yuuma wasn't one for tactics (he couldn't even pronounce it), so that didn't work. And Vector was too busy enjoying the show.

But within wielding a sword, Yuuma found meaning.

It was that passion he'd always felt while dueling, the connection to his opponent, the desire to move forward and do his best.

_Kattobingu._

Yuuma knew he'd have to start from the bottom at this, but he was ready to take the challenge and do his best.

"Just hold it like this."

He was confused when he felt Vector's hand around his, changing the position of his fingers around the hilt of his sword.

"I thought III said I'm not supposed to hold it like that?" Yuuma was confused, looking at Vector who had an annoyed expression.

"It's because the Arclights fight traditionally," Vector simply explained - he proved to have more actual knowledge than he had initially seemed to have.

III just nodded. "But this is Yuuma, so maybe your methods work better, Vector."

But Yuuma had just gotten reminded of something that otherwise would've made him sad, but right now it was making him the happy. "I'm holding the sword just like Hope would!"

He was swinging his sword around a little, happy to have finally found a way.

It was still heavy, but not 'impossible to use properly'-heavy.

"With this way of gripping it, you will not be able to attack fast, though," III explained, but Yuuma was far from listening.

"Alright, I wanna fight again!" Yuuma said, motivation visible in his eyes.

"I'll be your opponent," Vector declared, for the first time actually fighting against Yuuma. He had left it to III before, but things had gotten a lot more interesting now.

He unsheathed his sword, taking a taunting pose. "Duel."

One thing was not different at all when it came to sword duels and card duels: The terms they used.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Yuuma was aware that this probably was only the case because his friends were all duelists, but it didn't stop him from liking it.

He mentally made a note to visit Rokujuurou and Yamikawa, as he knew that Yamikawa could wield a sword as well.

...And Yuuma almost would've gotten hit by Vector's sword if it hadn't been for rapidly pulling up his sword in defense.

"Don't space out," Vector warned as he went for another attack. His way of fighting amazed Yuuma. It looked like years of experience, and Yuuma faintly recalled that that was actually the case.

~*~

"I need a duel rice ball now!" Yuuma announced, lying on the floor next to Vector. "You're really good at this, Vector!"

"It would've been for the worst if I wasn't," Vector truthfully replied. He'd have died long ago if he wasn't. And while he technically had died twice already, he probably would've died permanently if it hadn't been for his swordsmanship.

III had left for a bit, apparently having to talk to his brothers.

Yuuma fell silent and he closed his eyes.

His situation had not actually changed.

Astral was still not around. Yuuma still could not go the Astral World whenever he wanted.

But the thing that had to change wasn't his situation.

It was him.

Over the course of the last hours of fighting, the realization had slowly crept into his heart.

He hadn't been himself, anymore.

He hadn't taken any challenges, had ran away from inevitable truths.

And that was why, Yuuma knew he'd make a choice this evening.

"You know," Vector suddenly said, ripping Yuuma out of his thoughts. "I think it's for the best if you just tell Astral how you feel about this."

"Wait, how...?" Yuuma asked, confused about Vector's capability of practically reading his thoughts.

"You haven't told him yet, it's obvious from the way you behave. You were overthinking this, but you know," Vector paused to laugh before continuing. "You're ridiculously simple. So better do things your way, thinking doesn't suit you."

Yuuma did not catch the indirect insult.

He did catch the advice though.

"You mean it's better to just Kattobingu?" Yuuma was not not sure whether he really understood that right.

Vector nodded but realized that Yuuma had his eyes closed. "Yeah."

"Hey, Vector," Yuuma said after some seconds of silence, now opening his eyes to look at Vector. "Do you think it's right to use the Key for this?"

"So you knew after all," Vector answered, more to himself than to Yuuma.

The Emperor's Key was made out of highly concentrated astrite. There was an entire pocket dimension inside that thing, after all.

Of course its interior could be used for interdimensional transports.

But Yuuma had been scared.

Months ago, when V had asked him whether they could use the Emperor's Key's power as fuel for their dimensional transports, Yuuma had refused.

He'd said that it was the last thing he had left of Astral.

That unless V was sure nothing would would happen to it, he wouldn't give the Key away.

That V and Kaito should look for other astrite sources.

But of course those sources were close to non-existent.

Yuuma knew he should have nothing to fear, but at the same time the thought of something happening to the Key - the dimensional transporter exploding, for instance - and having nothing left of Astral was too agonizing to deal with.

But this was not him.

He knew. Vector knew. Everyone knew it.

Tsukumo Yuuma was one to recklessly rush in, to take risks.

But that very Tsukumo Yuuma found himself betraying that part of himself very often when it came to Astral-related matters.

"You should," Vector answered properly after a moment of thinking.

Yuuma sighed, then breathed in deeply and jumped to his feet. "Kattobingu da, ore!"

"By the way," Vector got up as well. "Has it ever occurred to you that Astral might supply you with astrite if you just ask?"

And at that, Yuuma's face reddened. He hadn't thought of it before.

But before he could reply, Kaito entered the room, making a satisfied face. "Let me remind you: The chance of the Emperor's Key being damaged in the process of using it for a dimensional transport is very slim anyway."

"Kaito?!" Yuuma almost fell over. "You were listening?"

At that moment, III stepped back into the room, obviously looking like he was feeling embarrassed about something.

Yuuma rolled his eyes a little. "Even you, III?"

When the room started to fill up with the other Barians and Arclights, Yuuma understood. Everyone had listened.

They'd all waited for this.

"...You guys planned this, right?"

"I thought it's for the best." It was Vector who replied, a wide grin on his face.

"Let's get to work then," V said, smiling.

In fact, everyone smiled.

And Yuuma realized that they hadn't in quite a while.

"Everyone..." Yuuma murmured, not sure whether he should apologize or not, but he decided to go for it anyway. "I'm sorry for having taken so long."

"It's not like we aren't used to it," IV simply replied with a shrug, remembering the time when Astral was thought to be dead all too well.

"I hope you don't mind us joining to visit Astral, though," Kaito added, a smirk on his face.

Yuuma finally stopped hesitating. "Of course not! But... can we make Astral a sword before we go there?"

"You want him to start learning how to wield a sword, too?" Alit was curious about that. In fact, Alit was eager to fight Yuuma and Astral again, even if without cards.

"Isn't that obvious?" Yuuma pouted a little. "If I have too much experience before he does, it's not fair! I want to fight him for fun, after all!"

"Now we have to spend endless weekends arguing over the design again," Mizael complained, scowling.

"It won't be that hard this time." Yuuma grinned. "We should just take Hope Ray's design as a reference."

Nobody had expected Yuuma to actually have a useful idea.

"We will have to call the other Barians though," Mizael realized. "Durbe is better than us at creating a good balance for the swords."

"Let's call them then!" Yuuma exclaimed and jumped.

_"Kattobingu da, ore!"_


	7. Chapter 7

Things were easier to do with the help of friends.

Of course, Yuuma had known that, but it was more apparent now that he watched Shark and Rio lean over a piece of paper, discussing the details for the design of Astral's sword.

He and Vector were seated in the back of the room - the Kamishiro twins had pretty much told them to get lost, actually, but Vector ("So I can piss off Nasch.") and Yuuma ("It's interesting!") had insisted they wanted to watch.

And that's why here they were, in the Arclights' mansion, working on different parts of the sword for Astral. In fact, he and Vector were not really being useful at all, but that was no surprise given that Yuuma had come up with the basic design idea and Vector was usually at Kaito's lab for reasons that no one spoke or even knew about. They didn't have much of a job beyond that, so all they did was watching the others and improving Yuuma's swordsmanship. But today was different, because Ryouga and Rio aimed to finalize the design for Astral's sword today.

Yuuma's anticipation was visible, because they had worked the whole week for the details.

"Oy, _Merag-chan, Nasch,_ are you done already?" Vector asked, the tone of his voice giving away that he was mocking them. He had done that for the last few hours, and the reactions were always the same.

"Shut up, Vector, you haven't done anything useful," Ryouga hissed and he threw a pen in Vector's direction. However, it failed to hit its target due to said target's fast ducking - the pen hit Yuuma instead.

Yuuma grimaced. "Stop that, Shark. You, too, Vector."

"Oh, let them be, it's funny anyway," Rio commented with a smile, and once again Yuuma wondered how it was possible that she was getting along with Vector.

Yuuma had made Vector confess all his sins back then, right after he'd been revived. Vector had laughed about most if not all of them, and Yuuma understood, on a strange level.

He vaguely wondered if he would've done the same as Vector if he had gotten manipulated by Don Thousand, but he'd never know.

So with the knowledge that Vector had literally killed Durbe and Rio, it seemed strange to Yuuma that, out of all people, Rio had forgiven him. They had both never talked about the details to anyone. Even Shark seemed to know nothing, and Yuuma had simply decided that it was better if he did not insist.

"Shouldn't you be defending me?" Shark now asked, and Rio proceeded to just point out a flaw in the design they had overlooked.

"The blade is not slim enough, Astral would never fight with something that heavy," Rio suggested and made the changes she deemed necessary.

Silence fell back to the room, but not for long because they heard footsteps.

"Shark, Rio," III entered the room with a tray and proceeded to hand cups of tea to everyone. "You shouldn't overwork yourselves, it's night already."

Ryouga paid no attention to the tea and Rio took a sip before continuing her work.

"Thank you, III," Yuuma said, grateful for the tea because it was cold at night, even inside.

Then III turned around to look at Vector. "Kaito wants you to come to the lab."

"And I thought he was done," Vector complained, stretching himself as he stood up. "Well, Yuuma-kun, I'll be gone for a while."

"Can I come along?" Yuuma asked as he stood up as well, not waiting for an answer.

Vector bit his lip and looked at III instead, who in turn smiled.

"Whatever you, V-nii-sama and Kaito have been doing this whole time, you should show Yuuma at least," III decided, not helping Vector out in that matter.

Before Vector could voice any protest, they heard a relieved sigh from Rio.

"Finally, we're done!"

"What?"

"Really?!"

Yuuma and III simultaneously rushed to look at the design.

"This looks like something Astral would use," III said, although it was obvious even without his words.

Vector now looked at it as well and he smirked. "Not bad. Can IV even pull that off with his forging skills?"

"He should be able to if Durbe and Alit help out." III replied with a shrug. "Now back to what we were talking about. Yuuma, you're going with Vector. Ryouga, Rio and I will take care of the rest here."

~*~

"Why is Yuuma here?" Kaito eyed Vector coldly. They weren't on bad terms, but they weren't on good terms, either. After all, Vector was responsible for a lot of the suffering Haruto and Kaito had endured.

"Would you believe me if I told you III insisted?" Vector replied, sighing as he eyed the monitors that displayed a lot of data.

Yuuma's eyes widened when he looked to the right. "Is that... a dimensional transporter?"

Kaito nodded, arms crossed. "Yeah. We just finished testing it."

"I thought Vector has no idea of science?" Yuuma asked, confused about Vector's role in this.

Vector chuckled. "You're not wrong about that, unless 'hitting vital organs with swords' counts as having an idea of science anyway."

Yuuma looked like he'd eaten something bad for a second, but then he regained control of his facial expression. "So, why were you still keeping secrets?"

He was sick of secrets, even when they were for his sake.

"You wouldn't have approved of me being Kaito's guinea pig, would you?" Vector asked, and it was a rhetorical question, because of course the answer was 'no'.

Yuuma opened his mouth to ask what Vector meant, but Kaito provided the explanation right away.

"He might be human now, but somehow his blood still contains traces of Bariarite."

"Bariawhat?" Yuuma asked, scratching his head.

Vector sighed, obviously in disbelief of how little Yuuma knew. "The crystal that the Barian World was made of."

"Then..." Yuuma looked from Kaito to Vector. "What have you been doing?"

At that moment, V stepped into the room, carrying some documents. "The Bariarite has the same structure as Astrite, except it's infused with chaos. We tried to increase the success rate of the transporter by simulating it on a much smaller scale, using Vector's blood." He was even less friendly with Vector than Kaito was.

Yuuma understood why though, Tron's state - Tron's state that even the Numeron Code could not help with - was something V could never forget, and the Barians were responsible for it, after all. Especially Vector, who showed no remorse at all.

"Don't you have other sources of that Bariasomething?" Yuuma asked, not happy about Vector doing this at all.

"I don't wanna use Orbital for this, and human blood recovers on its own," Kaito didn't bother expressing it nicely, he was honest about it.

Yuuma nodded, and then he slowly turned to Vector. "Vector... you're doing all of this for me?"

Vector stepped aside to avoid getting hugged by Yuuma, and he rolled his eyes. "Hell, no. I told you, I can't stand the way you've been behaving. Even your dueling has become horrible. You were even summoning _monsters with zero attack in attack mode_. I'm glad you took up sword dueling, it's better for everyone who's involved with you."

All he got in return was Yuuma's grateful smile, and Vector found it irritating.

"Weren't _you_ summoning monsters with zero attack in attack mode as well?" Kaito asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My monsters were based on that stuff," Vector said with a shrug. "So, what's the situation? You said you've finished it?"

V handed him the documents that he'd been carrying.

"Success rate 99,97%? My blood must be pretty high-class," Vector said with a chuckle.

"How are the others doing?" V asked as he took the documents away again.

"They finished the design an hour ago," Vector reported. "So we should be ready to go in two days if Durbe and the others work properly."

"And you should actually go home for once, Yuuma," V added, looking a bit concerned. "You've slept at the Barians' mansion for the whole week, haven't you?"

That was very obvious because of the clothes Yuuma was wearing. Everything was black, sometimes with small pink accents. Vector's wardrobe. It oddly fitted Yuuma because it mirrored the color of his hair, but the idea of Yuuma only wearing black was still strange to everyone, which is why he usually wore Vector's or his own uniform when it wasn't in the laundry... which it currently was.

"Almost the whole week," Yuuma muttered quietly. He knew Akari didn't like this, but he was calling her every day and telling her he was okay. Which he was. He was 14 by now, he said, he can take care of himself. He hadn't even skipped school, and he'd explained the situation to the Numbers Club ("I'm sleeping over at the Barians'!"), so everything was okay, right?

"Go home," Kaito now insisted as well, "We can handle the rest and we will call you when the sword is done."

Yuuma smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Kaito, V!"

~*~

"Alright, see you in two days," Vector said, waving goodbye as he turned to walk again.

"Won't you sleep over here?" Yuuma asked, and Vector sighed exaggeratedly.

"I might as well sleep over, then I don't need to hear Nasch's boasting about how good he is at designing swords."

And Yuuma smiled.

"Yuuma, is that a sword you're carrying?!" Akari looked out of the window, a frown on her face.

"Uhm..." Yuuma scratched his head, looking for an excuse.

Vector put a smile on. "It's for the best if I explain that, Akari-san."

It didn't take him long to make Akari realize that it can't be more life-threatening than dueling anyway.

It didn't take Haru long to realize that Vector wasn't who he pretended to be, either.

"So you're one of Yuuma's enemies from another world who is now his friend and from this world?" Akari had the urge to get violent, but both Haru and Yuuma were holding her back.

"Pretty much," Vector said, smirking. "I didn't plan on telling you."

Yuuma had barely managed to make Vector stop talking before he could mention all the people he killed.

Haru just smiled. "And now go to bed, it's 2 AM already."

~*~

[Kotori?]

[It's 3 AM, why do you text me at this time?]

[Did I wake you?]

[No, I am just... busy.]

[Oh, sorry.]

[What have you been up to lately?]

[We will go to Astral World in around two days! Wanna come along?]

[You've found a way?! I'm happy for you, Yuuma! I'd love to come along.]

[Yeah, everyone helped.]

[Why didn't you tell us?]

[I wasn't sure if it would work.

Sorry.]

[It's okay. I'm telling the others then!]

[Are they even awake?]

[Didn't I tell you I was busy? We are currently holding a Numbers Club emergency meeting, but the reason for it is gone now.]

[Emergency meeting? For what?]

[Because you were behaving strangely.]

[Oh.]

[You really are an idiot, haha. The others want to come along, too, by the way.]

[That's great! I'll tell Kaito then! Good night.]

[Good night, Yuuma.]

"Should you really be texting right now?" Vector asked, yawning. They were both sleeping in Yuuma's bedroom tonight, but it wasn't because of the memories connected to the attic. It was because Yuuma had wanted to.

Vector welcomed the change. And so he was sitting on his pile of covers, sneaking side-glances at Yuuma's D-Gazer to see what the texts had been about.

"Vector, you're awake?" Yuuma chose to ask a question instead of answering.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Vector stretched. "So, does that mean the others are coming along?" His annoyed expression made it obvious that he wasn't happy about that - for him, Yuuma alone was annoying enough already, he didn't want to have to endure Yuuma's fan club as well.

"Yeah." Yuuma took a moment before he continued."Can I take them to your next concert?"

"You will do it even if I decline, so why do you even bother asking in the first place?" Vector replied, yawning once more.

Immediately, Yuuma pouted and sat down in front of Vector. "Isn't that obvious? You're my friend, Vector!"

Vector was torn between rolling his eyes, denying it or just looking away. His body made the choice for him and he looked away.

"Go sleep," he demanded, letting himself fall backwards so he'd be able to sleep as well.

Of course, Yuuma kept pouting, but he obeyed. He was used to some of his friends being that way.

"You're really like Shark when it comes to friendship," Yuuma said as he stared at the ceiling.

"Do you want to die?" Vector hissed, too tired to get more worked up than that.

"It's nothing bad," Yuuma explained with a smile that Vector could not see, but definitely could hear from Yuuma's tone. "I just feel like you two would be better off if you could trust others."

"Trust others, huh?" Vector sighed as he pulled the blanket closer. "Have I ever told you that you are a ridiculously simple soul?"

Two days later, Yuuma's D-Gazer buzzed, but he ignored it in favor of parrying Vector's strike.

"You're starting to get more serious, aren't you?" A grin made its way to Yuuma's lips - he tried very hard to make Vector stop going easy on him, and he felt like he'd just made progress. He didn't get a reply though.

On Yuuma's next strike, Vector ducked and flipped him over. "You still have bad footwork. Now look who's calling you, it might be Kaito."

Yuuma performed a few backflips in order to get up, then he looked at Vector with genuinely impressed eyes. "Vector, you still have to tell me how you always manage to do this!"

Vector grinned, as if he had remembered something. "I'll teach you after we return from Astral World. And once you know how to do it, try it in a fight against Mizael."

"Alright!" Yuuma jumped in enthusiasm (and failed to notice Vector's attempts to suppress a chuckle) and then took out his D-Gazer. "It's from Kaito!"

"So what did he say?"

"The sword is done and we are supposed to get ready to travel to Astral World."

"Let's take a shortcut then!"

Vector's shortcut turned out to be the way through the sewers.

~*~

Vector was not surprised in the slightest when the Numbers Club stood ready in front of Kaito's lab.

He wasn't surprised that Kotori had brought food for Yuuma, either.

"Can I see the sword?" Yuuma asked, unable to hide his genuine curiosity.

Right then, Alit approached him, handing him the sword that was soon to be Astral's. "A bit too light for my taste, but probably just right for Astral."

Yuuma unsheathed it and made a sound of surprise. "Whoa! That sword is awesome!"

"It's probably our greatest work yet." Durbe commented, satisfied with the result.

Meanwhile, Ryouga tried to hide the bags under his eyes by looking at the ground, but he failed because Vector pointed it out immediately.

"Nasch looks like he's been in my Numbers Ruin for three days in a row or something."

"Shut up."

Yuuma looked at Ryouga in a concerned manner, "Is everything alright, Shark?"

"He decided to ditch sleep last night in favour of watching the others so he could make sure the sword is perfect," Rio explained with a smirk that earned her a glare from her brother.

"Didn't he do that when we made Yuuma's sword as well?" Gilag commented, and Ryouga looked like he had all intentions to use his own sword to silence everyone.

Vector laughed lightly because he still loved pissing Ryouga off. "He didn't sleep for three days in a row there, that was worse."

"And you did? You were texting me to ask for the progress, and we both know you hate my guts." Ryouga smirked as soon as he saw Vector's attempts to ignore what he just said.

"Was that why you asked for Shark's phone number that time?" Yuuma looked at Vector.

"You've sunken quite low, haven't you, Vector?" Mizael took the opportunity to mock Vector as well.

Vector scowled. "Remind me of who lost our last duel, Miza-chan?"

"So, are we going?" It was Tokunosuke who asked and that stopped the bickering.

The Numbers Club still felt uncomfortable about the former Barians, so they barely ever interacted with them if they didn't have to. Kotori sometimes did, but it was because she had seen some of their memories. She knew the best that they weren't at fault for their actions. At least not entirely.

"Yeah, we can go now." Kaito nodded.

~*~

"The Key, Yuuma." V said, pointing at the Emperor's Key as it was meant to be the power source for the transporter.

Yuuma gulped and slowly pulled the key off.

"Don't worry, Yuuma, it'll be okay," III assured him and smiled.

Before handing the Key over to V, Yuuma looked at Vector once, who gave him something he interpreted as an encouraging nod.

"Alright." Yuuma dropped the Key in V's hands and watched as he used it to get the transporter working.

"The energy for the transporter is drained from the inside of the Key," IV commented as he positioned himself on the platform in front of the transporter's control panel.

"To summarize, we're ready to go!" Takashi exclaimed as he and the rest of the Numbers Club joined IV on the platform.

Soon everyone was ready and Kaito used the remote to start the transporter.

"Transporting in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... go!" Orbital counted down, and within a flash of light they were all gone.

~*~

"We're here to see Astral," Yuuma smiled at Ena. She had welcomed them at the entrance and Yuuma had been glad to see her again.

Of course, the former Barian Emperors did not know what to make out of being in Astral World, especially since Vector and Nasch were both still capable of using some of their powers.

That had not been a surprise to anyone though, because the last time they'd saved Astral World, they had already discovered that.

Being here for enjoyment was just so different. However, they tried their best to welcome the change.

"Yuuma. It's nice to see you again." Astral smiled, the happiness in that smile was undeniable, although a trace of worry was visible in his eyes. "What are you doing in Astral World?"

Yuuma gulped but convinced himself to speak. "I... missed you."

A year ago, when Astral and Yuuma had first met, Astral wouldn't have expected Yuuma to ever say this, and would definitely not have expected himself to share that feeling.

But now was not a year ago.

"I missed you, too." Astral's gaze fell to Yuuma's chest, and he frowned.

Yuuma looked away, looked behind himself, but there was no one - the Numbers Club, the Arclights and the Barians had decided to give him time with Astral alone earlier, but now it was so difficult to stand here alone.

"Where is the Emperor's Key?" Astral now asked.

Yuuma's lip quivered, and he muttered: "We needed a power source." A beat. "But the Key is unharmed!"

"I see." Astral smiled again.

Silence made its way into their conversation, but Yuuma tried to prevent it. He had too much to say, but no words for it.

"How have the last two months been for you?" He asked, unable to look Astral in the eye.

Finding resolve had been hard, but actually going through with this was harder.

"They were fine. Aside from what I mentioned earlier." This time, Astral's gaze went to Yuuma's belt, and Yuuma was well aware of the reason for that. He was carrying two swords, after all.

Yuuma grinned sheepishly, looking for words. "You see... We... I..."

"I can't possibly stand watching this. Nasch, come here, even a blind person would know you're watching." Vector was approaching them.

From behind a pillar, Ryouga now walked towards Astral, Yuuma and Vector as well. "Hmph."

"I had wondered what you two were doing there already," Astral commented.

Yuuma gasped. "You knew? I totally didn't see them!"

"That's because you're an idiot." Vector sighed and looked from Yuuma to Astral. "Look, Astral, the thing is that Yuuma wants to be able to meet you regularly."

"Is that true, Yuuma?" Astral asked, looking at Yuuma without understanding. When Yuuma nodded, he continued: "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because he's an idiot." This time, it was Ryouga who said that, and Yuuma still didn't bother taking it as an insult because it wasn't one.

"I... didn't think you'd be able to do something about that," Yuuma looked to the ground as he spoke. "But then, Vector told me we could just ask you for Astrite to fuel our dimensional transporters!"

"I see. And you didn't want to use the Emperor's Key, I assume." Astral knew that much - the memories of the times where Yuuma had given the Key to Kotori for safekeeping were present as always.

Yuuma bit his lip and nodded. "But we had to, to get here."

"I can give you as much Astrite as you require, this world is made of it after all." Astral smiled warmly.

"Really?!" Yuuma took the opportunity to jump and hug Astral, not caring about Vector's and Ryouga's reactions. "Thank you so much!"

"Yuuma..." Astral returned the hug and waited until Yuuma stopped. Then. "But what are those... swords for?"

"About that..." Yuuma grinned. "I found a thing we can do that isn't dueling!"

"You mean, we found a thing." Ryouga crossed his arms, but he didn't bother hiding his smile.

"And that is... fighting with swords?" Astral asked, genuine interest sparkling in his eyes. A new challenge.

Yuuma nodded and handed Astral the sword. "Everyone worked hard to make you a sword. The Barians, the Arclights, and me!" He grinned.

Astral unsheathed the sword and looked at it. "Hope Ray?" His smile grew.

"Hey, you didn't do as horrible as I thought with the design, Nasch. Astral actually recognized it," Vector joked, earning him a glare from Ryouga.

Yuuma smiled as he asked, "And? Do you like it?"

"Yes, I like it a lot," Astral said, and as he continued to smile, he added: "Is there a tactic to the art of sword fighting?"

"Ehehe..." Yuuma pointed at Vector. "He's still teaching me."

Astral looked at Vector who just shrugged before saying, "If I was you, I'd learn from III instead. While he fails to teach Yuuma, he might be able to teach you. He likes rules and traditional fighting and all."

"I'll come back to that offer." Astral floated in the direction of the stairs. "But for now... Let's go meet the others, I need to thank them as well."

~*~

It was midnight when everyone was tired enough to sleep. Astral had offered them to sleep over, and no one had objected.

Especially not Yuuma who was used to sleepovers by now. Yuuma who, for the first time in the last two months, was genuinely happy.

Astral had gone away for a moment to inform Eliphas of the fact that his human friends would stay over night, and so Vector and Yuuma were alone as they lay down and looked at the stars.

"Vector?" Yuuma rolled over so he could look at him.

"Mhm?" Vector mirrored Yuuma's position.

"Why did you... start this? I mean, you were responsible for all of this, from the swords to Astral World... And, I'm really, really thankful for that, but..." Yuuma didn't know how to word it, because saying it was not something Vector would do would sound like an insult. And that wasn't not what it was.

 _Because we're friends, dumbass._ Vector could've said that. It would've been true, but he definitely didn't want Yuuma to go and hug him. "Isn't that obvious?"

Yuuma tilted his head. "Huh? No."

" _Because I thought it's for the best._ "

"That's not an answer!"

"Too bad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, this was a long ride. And I finally finished a chaptered fic. I hope you enjoyed it~

**Author's Note:**

> About the title. It's named after Vector's catchphrase "Yokare to omotte" ('I thought it's for the best').


End file.
